Turbo R55 starts but doesn't run
 

Boy have I got one for you guys.

My wife has an 08 Clubman S with just under 50k miles on it and it's been a pretty fun little car so far. However, it started having big problems a month or two ago. First is died on the highway because of bad PCV on the intake manifold. I replaced the intake manifold and it still didn't work. The car starts, but dies after a second or two. Luckily, my wife works for a big dealer network in the area and they have a Mini store. So we got the car towed over there so they can diagnose the thing. I thought it might have been the HPFP since it was acting like it didn't have fuel pressure. After a little research, I found that they extended the warranty on that part for the N14 engine. So it MUST be that! Right?!

Wrong. They replaced it and the car was still broken. At first, they didn't know what was wrong with it. It's always super reassuring when the dealer cannot figure out what's wrong with your car. :thumbsup: Eventually they told us it needs a new turbo and that the valve cover is all mucked up. They only wanted $5,000 to fix it. As in five thousand dollars. With three zeroes. Remember, my wife works for the dealer. So instead of paying the price of a used car to get this job done, we got it towed back home. I popped off the valve cover and it is the cleanest valve cover I have ever seen. So that's definitely not the issue. Started messing around with the turbo, got it taken apart enough to feel that the impeller is junk, so it definitely needs a new turbo.

However, I am not convinced that just replacing the turbo will fix the car. I really think it's a fuel pressure issue. Almost all of my wrenching experience is on American cars and it's acting like a GM with a bad fuel pump. Do these things have fuel pressure regulators? If so, where is it hiding? Are the injectors or the fuel rail known to go bad?

I'll take any help and any suggestions I can get. Is it really possible that the car just won't run because of a bad turbo alone?

Your car would start with a faulty waste gate impeller.

I would check your electric fuel pump first. If the hpfp was change, they are suppose to check the low pressure if it's holding it's pressure. Check it again...The hose connected to the hpfp is pita to remove with out breaking the plastic tabs. Be carefull!

Since you removed the valve cover. Are the the camshafts aligned together.
Do you have a good compression? related to the camshafts bad timing with the crank... turn the crank until you see int. and ex written. look at the square part at the end near cyl.4 is one of them offset?

Do yo have spark?: no spark= ground on valve cover not tighten or junction box filled with water.

By electric fuel pump, do you mean this?
http://www.ebay.com/itm/07-12-mini-c...tVS~YY&vxp=mtr

I haven't checked the timing yet, but I'll definitely do that to narrow down the problem. I know I have spark because the car does start, it just doesn't stay running.

Thanks!

yes fuel pump in the reservoir.
Also check the intake valves for carbon deposit.
Do you have the last updated intake too? Could be your throttle acting up if frozen... if you have cold weather.